Abandoned Hiking Climbing Gear - Common?

[trailhound]

I reviewed my pictures from March 2012. Unfortunately, I did not take one of Charlie - a great omission.

[Candace66]

I'd be leery of moving gear I found unless it was clearly rotting away and abandoned. If you see something lying around that makes you concerned, take pics, grab the coordinates, and report it to Park HQ. JMHO.

[Desert Fog]

Good point Candace.  The first thing I thought was where is the body.

[DeathValleyDazed]

I'd be leery of moving gear I found unless it was clearly rotting away and abandoned. If you see something lying around that makes you concerned, take pics, grab the coordinates, and report it to Park HQ.  JMHO.

The gear was clearly weathered and the climbing ropes UV bleached to the point only a fool would trust their life hanging from them again. The helmets also looked bleached. Steve Hall told me to report this as well so I'll let you know how all that goes.

[shane]

Trailhound, my wife and I may have been on the Copper cyn hike with you in 2012, we brought homemade ice cream for the group.
I’ve found climbing gear twice in canyon areas where it just looked forgotten and I thought about taking it out as trash, but not being a climber I didn’t want to do something dumb out of ignorance so I just left it there. I’m hoping to drag my sister up Grave cyn in a few weeks where I found a helmet and some other gear in 2015, we’ll see if it’s there still.

[DeathValleyDazed]

Now last week in DEVA hiking south from The Devil's Cornfield to Tucki Mountain's northeast side to explore a no-name canyon two canyons north of Trellis Canyon I stumbled across two gear packs of rock climber gear on a small ridge out on the alluvial fan about three miles from the highway. This was a peculiar place to leave gear because it was about a mile or two from the nearest canyon as well as three miles from the highway.

I just stumbled across a "possible" solution to this mystery over at reddit in a thread titled "Lost (City) Aztlan in SW Desert" discussing a search for an entrance to this "lost city" under The Panamints via a tunnel/tube near the entrance to Trellis Canyon. Disclaimer: I seriously doubt such a lost city exists under The Panamints!

I'm attempting to contact this individual to confirm whether it's his abandoned gear or not. I'lll keep you posted. These cut and pasted quotes (sic) are from two years ago which makes the timeline a possibility? The main abandoned gear evidence is highlighted in BOLD

Hi, I’ve been researching since 2009 a city that lies underground in the Panamint Mountains, California. I believe it is liked to Aztlan, the birthplace of the Aztec people. I also believe it is one of the seven cities of Cibola. Seven cities of gold, 4 of which are in Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Mt. Shasta, San Pedrir Mt. Baja Peninsula, MX. Could these underground cities possibly liked to the last Nova and Hopi legend of the Emergence from Sipapu?
The city was mentioned in a couple of news clippings from the early 1900s to 1947, but written off as fiction. Has anyone searched for this site? One possible entrance lies just inside Trellis Canyon on the eastern slope overlooking the Salt Creek conservation area. I have been there twice but could not get up to the cave entrance. It’s rough country. Thx

I found the entrance on the first trip out. Hiked in by myself but it took about 14 hours in/out. Too rough for 4wd. Second trip I took a buddy and climbing gear but he got heat exhaustion on day two and I had to leave all our gear cache’d out there & get him out. Gear is still there, I haven’t been back. The Air Force have a base on the Wingate Pass end (China Lake) so they probably looted all the gold years ago. I’m thinking these may be places to relocate once the sun gets too hot again? We relocated to the ozarks but the caves out here have a lot of issues. Cave ins happen a lot. I wonder if that’s what caused the Anasazi to move to the cliff dwellings out in your area? Sun got too hot to be outside?

[trailhound]

Trailhound, my wife and I may have been on the Copper cyn hike with you in 2012, we brought homemade ice cream for the group.
I’ve found climbing gear twice in canyon areas where it just looked forgotten and I thought about taking it out as trash, but not being a climber I didn’t want to do something dumb out of ignorance so I just left it there. I’m hoping to drag my sister up Grave cyn in a few weeks where I found a helmet and some other gear in 2015, we’ll see if it’s there still.

Hi Shane, I just now saw your reply. Yes, you were on the hike with us. I remember the ice cream and wow was it good. I was the tall guy (6'5") with the short wife (5'2"). 

[MojaveGeek]

I just stumbled across a "possible" solution to this mystery over at reddit in a thread titled "Lost (City) Aztlan in SW Desert" discussing a search for an entrance to this "lost city" under The Panamints via a tunnel/tube near the entrance to Trellis Canyon. Disclaimer: I seriously doubt such a lost city exists under The Panamints!

I'm attempting to contact this individual to confirm whether it's his abandoned gear or not. I'lll keep you posted. These cut and pasted quotes (sic) are from two years ago which makes the timeline a possibility? The main abandoned gear evidence is highlighted in BOLD

Oh my. I wonder what he's been smoking. I went down a rat hole of looking at some such posts some years ago. You should ask him where the entrance is while you're at it.

I was literally just thinking maybe I should look at the redit stuff DVD mentions but.... I don't need to see posts like that

[DeathValleyDazed]

Abandoned Gear Mystery Solved

I connected online with friendly ex US Marine who hiked out to Trellis Canyon twice, first in 2015 and then again March 2017. The second time was with a buddy. Their goal was to explore a supposed tunnel from the mouth of Trellis Canyon that went under the Panamint Mountains and out somewhere. I ignored all that woo woo lost city stuff but focussed on his hiking report. His buddy got sick as they entered the mouth of Trellis Canyon so they headed back to their car park off Highway 190 somewhere. Along the way they abandoned their canyoneering gear to save weight. This is what I stumbled across December 2021 that had been exposed to the harsh desert weather since March 2017. He shared this image.
http://salamandersociety.com/deathvalley...ch2017.png

[Daymoth]

Abandoned Gear Mystery Solved

I connected online with friendly ex US Marine who hiked out to Trellis Canyon twice, first in 2015 and then again March 2017. The second time was with a buddy. Their goal was to explore a supposed tunnel from the mouth of Trellis Canyon that went under the Panamint Mountains and out somewhere. I ignored all that woo woo lost city stuff but focussed on his hiking report. His buddy got sick as they entered the mouth of Trellis Canyon so they headed back to their car park off Highway 190 somewhere. Along the way they abandoned their canyoneering gear to save weight. This is what I stumbled across December 2021 that had been exposed to the harsh desert weather since March 2017. He shared this image.
http://salamandersociety.com/deathvalley...ch2017.png

And since 2017 they havent gone to this alleged tunnel?? Bleh dissapointing.